“After Timothy Bradley’s split-decision victory over Manny Pacquiaoon Saturday, an old friend posted a comment on my Facebook page: “Believing in boxing is like believing in the Tooth Fairy.”

Read more from the Bee here it has some interesting information and a POV that many will share. People always wind up with a thought that boxing is fixed after a decision like this one. This wasn’t as bad as others.

It was clearly Pacquaios win. He hit Bradley more often, he hit Bradley harder, he on more rounds. He coasted a little in late rounds and left the fight up to the judges. This is always a bad decision even when you win. Because you can easily have a fight that you won slip right through your gloves.

It was a result that stunned the world, even by modern professional boxing standards.

Last night in Las Vegas the brilliant Filipino Manny Pacquiao lost his WBO welterweight belt to Timothy Bradley in a controversial split-decision defeat.

With that Paddy Power has rolled out one of our famous Justice Payouts. If you had placed a bet on Manny to win in a pre-fight outright or on points, that money is now back in your account. We Hear You!

“I feel like Pacquiao won the fight but I am not going to sugarcoat nothing. The last fight belonged to Marquez,” Mayweather said while referring to Pacquiao’s majority decision win over Juan Manuel Marquez this past November. “This one belonged to Pacquiao. I’m calling it like it is,” Mayweather continued.

Boxers are always warned not to leave things up to the men who sit ringside and judge things round to round. Anything short of a knockout can be judged either way. And maybe this was just payback.

If Pacquiao loses this weekend, getting Mayweather to fight him will be difficult.

First bout: a tie

Second bout: a win for Pacquiao

You could tip the card in either direction for both fights as far as I am concerned.

The difference? I think the difference in both fights were the knockdowns by Pacquiao. He knocked Juan Manuel down hard in both fights. I really thought the first fight was over & done with after 3 knockdowns in the first round.

How did Marquesz make it back in that fight? Hell if I know.

And Manny’s win in the 2nd fight, I just don’t know. I had Marquez ahead but it was so tight—-again. And with the knockdown I can see giving it to Pacquiao.

So now here we are again. Will it be the same kind of bout? Do both fighters have it in them again?

November 12th:

What is it between these two very good boxers? This was another strange fight, very even—flip a coin.

Pacquiao wins a narrow decision over Marquez. Marquez supoporters will say (again) that Juan Manuel should have won. And with one bout a tie (??), PacMan is 2-0-1 in this Trilogy but he could easily have been 0-3 and title-less.

Most of the crowd felt Marquez won the fight and Marquez and his camp certainly felt he was robbed once again.

“In a bruising battle against a counterpuncher who was both accurate and fast, Pacquiao needed the final round on two scorecards to pull out the win. He got it, even though a third judge scored the round in favor of Marquez.

As boos – and cans and bottles – rang down on the ring, Pacquiao celebrated another victory and another huge payday.

“My fans are very happy because they thought I won,” Pacquiao said.

“My fans” Pacquiao said, not “boxing fans”.

I am disappointed and scored the fight as a Marquez win. Close, very close.

Don’t be a counter puncher in against a world-wide sensation. you have to take control of the fight.

Actually Marquez surprised everyone and he DID take control. That is why I had Marquez down as the winner here.

Marquez punished Pac and kept him at bay all thru the fight. Marquez by 2 points like 114-112.

November 14th:

Good job hereof breaking down the unofficial scorecard of HBO judge Howard Lederer with a focus on “effective aggressor”.

Yes, the author(from the excellent boxing media Bad Left Hook, did judge his own card as 116-112 Marquez. But he does a very fair and valid effort reviewing the HBO judge’s card.

“We’re told so frequently by Lederman about the criteria for judging fights: namely, effective aggression; defence; clean, hard punching; and, the ever-elusive ring generalship. Indeed, these are the principles upon which Lederman based his 116-112 scorecard for Pacquiao. However, looking at what each category really means, I find it particularly hard to see how his arguments were truly applicable to this fight…

…Taken from the Compubox website, I’d like to cite these statistics: “Since meeting Marquez (in 2008), Pacquiao averaged 79.2 punches per round, of which he landed 34 percent. That percentage was a mixed bag, for while his jab remains inaccurate (4.0 of 30.9, 13.1 percent), his power punching more than made up for it (22.9 of 48.3, 47.5 percent).” Fights which occur at Pacquiao’s speed see him throwing upwards of 950 punches. On Saturday night, he was limited to 560 over the entire fight.”

Read the article at the link above. Regardless of who you think won this fight the article is well worth a read.

So the Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs Victor Ortiz fight is over and done. But the questions and the thoughts and the internet crap will continue for a long time on this one.

Did you watch it? In person or on PPV or in a local Sports Bar or at a friend’s house? If you saw this fight you can leave me a comment with your thoughts, feelings or opinions and we can post them here.

I know that many of you will disagree with some or even all of what I will say here.

On one hand you are fortunate if you saw this one first hand. Right or wrong you are among the crowd that can actually form an opinion and offer it to the public.

You probably read my post from before the fight, if not you can read it here. My thoughts leading up to the fight were fairly clear and I did pick the right winner (not many were backing Ortiz) and predicted the early KO. It was clear that Mayweather was the better boxer with much more experience. His defensive skills were far better than Ortiz’s.

What both had was strong punching power and I expected a longer fight, maybe 7 or 8 rounds, with more punching leading up to the knockout.

I expected a better fight and it is disappointing that Ortiz decided to purposely head butt Mayweather and it is disappointing that the knockout came in such a strange way leading to all of this confusion. Instead of a quality title match we are left with a fight more on the order of Mike Tyson‘s ear biting of Evander Holyfield or some of the other ring fiascos we have seen.

On the head butt: the Ref rightly deducted as point from Ortiz. He had already warned Ortiz earlier in the fight when Ortiz attempted to intentionally head butt Mayweather. So the 4th round head butt was the second time Ortiz had done this. My thought? One point deduction was not enough.

What did Ortiz say about his head butting tactic?

“Frustrated by the punches he was taking without landing any of his own, he tried to head-butt Mayweather while they clinched in a corner.

If you did not get the chance to see this fight, you have heard something about it otherwise you would not be here. The amount of publicity that has been generated post-fight is enormous and much more than the fight really deserves.

The boxing match deserves some amount of public comment just because these are two top-tier fighters and one lost his WBC Welterweight Title. However, because of the strange things that happened in the ring in the fourth round of this fight it is now part of the daily media frenzy.

So, if you missed it , here is a brief synopsis of the four rounds of this fight.

Fight Results:

Round 1: Mayweather wins 10-9

Round 2: Mayweather wins 10-9

Round 3: Mayweather wins 10-9

Mayweather wins the early rounds with his speed and counter-punching.

“Mayweather consistently beat Ortiz to the punch, and his experience and hand speed appeared to be the difference.”

Round 4: In Round 4 Ortiz appeared to rally a bit until a truly bizarre series of events unfolded and Mayweather knocks out Ortiz in Round 4.

What I have heard from way too may “sports guys” on TV news (pick a channel, the local news is the worst) is that Mayweather used a “sucker punch” to knock out Ortiz. This despite the fact that post-fight Ortiz admitted he knew that the fight had restarted and that he (Ortiz) had “followed the rules” from the ref bringing the fighters back together to restart the fight after Ortiz had intentionally head-butted Mayweather.

The sports reporters on TV news (especially the local news guys) just want the airtime and this fight has given them something to talk about. But few have done any boxing and not too many have been professional athletes. I respect those guys even if I disagree. But some guy that had been the weatherman yesterday…and got a “promotion” doing the sports? Fuck you, get off my TV.

The Referee had deducted a point from Ortiz due to his actions which violated boxing rules. As the fighters came back together in the center of the ring Ortiz tried to hug Mayweather. Then he leaned his head in appearing to try to kiss Mayweather. Ortiz says he was apologizing for his head-butt.

Mayweather says he thought he was going to get head butted again and responded with a left hand that rocked Ortiz and knocked him back. To that point, the left was the best punch from either fighter. Ortiz looked at the ref, and he may have said something it was hard to tell. While Ortiz looked at the ref, Mayweather slammed a massive right hand to the side of Ortiz’s head knocking him to the canvas.

Some folks on the internet are saying Ortiz could have gotten up before being counted out, but I did not see it that way. It appeared that Ortiz was knocked silly and could not recover within the 10 count.

Did you see it differently? Comment her or mssg me on Twitter @zenDR and I will be glad to consider what you say. Hell, you might even be able to get me to change my mind.

I say it on PPV and sometimes the TV angle(s) just don’t give the real deal view of the action that you see in person. So, if you were at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas for this fight, definitely let me know what you are thinking. If you saw it on PPV somewhere I’ll be glad to listen to you.

If all you know is what some asshole said on TV news or on the internet…kiss my ass. I don’t care.

Update September 18th:

Victor Ortiz wants rematch “Fight wasn’t ‘fair'”

On a possible rematch with Mayweather: “I would love the rematch, because you know, I fouled Floyd, and I apologized in the ring, and apologized after the fight as well. Just heat of the moment. It’s one of those things where the ref was in the middle, and they called the break as well, and he caught me after the ref caught me (?). And I guess to a sense, it’s a payback but I agree to disagree, I’d like the rematch, though, it’d be a nice one. … … I do want the rematch, and I’m sure Floyd will give it to me. Well, I hope, anyways.”

That’s a MAN. Even though I do NOT think the Mayweather knockout was illegit, unfair or a sucker punch, I have to say…Ortiz is a MAN in stepping up after the fight.

Update September 19th:

Here is (short) HBO’s fight recap. They state that Ortiz was “stunned” by hard Mayweather right hands at the end of the third round and seemed “lost” as he returned to his corner at the end of the round. HBO also says that Mayweather had won all of the three rounds.

Assuming Mayweather was also going to win the 4th Round at a similar 10-9 score (easy & correct assumption), he would have been ahead by a score of 40-36. After Ortiz lost a point in the 4th that would have made the score 40-35. Just about impossible to come back and win the fight in 12 rounds by decision.

A boxer would have to win 5 rounds just to tie and then continue to stay even. With 8 rounds remaining that means Ortiz needed to win 5 of those next 8 rounds by a score of 10-9. Otherwise a decision goes to Mayweather. And, after the head butt, you gotta figure the judges will score Ortiz a little harsher making it harder to win a round.

He really needed to get lucky and get a KO to win. And he knew he was getting his ass kicked.

Consequently, the intentional head butt in the corner. Take a look at that part again. A little cleaner and that head butt could have knocked Mayweather out, Is that what Ortiz was thinking? Or maybe just cause a cut, heavy bleeding? I dunno. I just know that mathematically he already lost by the time of the 4th round drama.

Update September 20th:

Today Larry Merchant, the HBO fight announcer/colog guy said Mayweather would be the favoriate against Pacquaio. Course the 80 year old Merchant was the one that said “If I was 50 years younger I would kick (Mayweather’s) ass”. Right Larry, right.

Maybe he should say “If I was 50 years younger I would make a hell of a lot more sense”.

September 20th #2

Pacquaio today says that Mayweather would have been “troubled” by Ortiz in the “late rounds” and would have lost the bout. Say what dude?? He is suggesting that Ortiz went on the “attack” in the 4th round. And, yes, Ortiz did land a few shots (mostly on Mayweather’s gloves) when he moved Mayweather into the corner just b4 he jumped at Mayweather and slammed his opponent with the top of his head. Clearly. For the second time.

However, even if Ortiz did not get knocked out in the 4th round, as I explain above he would have come out of that round behind by a score of no more than 40-35. That is the best that Ortiz could have scored. And, given that score, there is almost no way for Ortiz to win on a decision. He would need to win at least 5 (and probably 6) of the next 8 rounds. Otherwise he loses on a decision. And it was obvious that Mayweather’s defense was stronger than Ortiz could handle.

So maybe he would get lucky and win 5 or 6 rounds, but it did not appear to be possible.

Or maybe he would get lucky and knock Mayweather out. But things didn’t seem to be heading in that direction.

Or maybe a third head butt would have opened a fight ending cut on Mayweathers face.

But Ortiz was not going to “trouble” Mayweather in the later rounds. Not gonna happen.

As is often the case with strange fights, the post-fight chatter is pretty interesting.

Everybody has something to say.

September 22nd:

Today in the Sacramento Bee there is an article (I’m not even linking to it because it is such a time waster) where the writer says in his primary 2 points:

Mayweather is now the most hated PERSON in the world, after OJ Simpson

Mayweather is “ducking & dodging” a fight against Pacquaio

I’m not giving this guy any more room in my blog, that’s it. He is an ass. Like the guys writing (way too many) all the racist shit about Ortiz (he’s an American assholes with a proud Mexican background) and the guys with their profanity laced diatribes about Mayweather and how blacks always comeout on top against Hispanics (say what? They both have been treasted like shit way too often). I will not say more, will not give them space here, I will continue to delete their comments. Fuck em.

Late September 22nd:

Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero is ready to get back into the ring and wants to move up to the Welterweight class. Why? Guerrero (29-1-1 with 16 KOs) wants to fight Floyd Mayweather, Jr. I tell you, why am I not surprised? Guerrero is a good lightweight, but I wasn’t so sure before his injury when he was going to fight in the Junior Welterweights.

If he gets a fight with Mayweather it could be interesting, he’s a good boxer. But with the injury, surgery, rehab and weight class change Guerrero would have to be really prepared.

September 23rd:

Excellent Al Bernstein video blog (on the boxing channel) regarding the subject of the mainstream sports guys (TV, radio, print dudes) and their inability to look at the big picture of the sport when one single well publicized bout turns out not to deliver as promised. In other words, they get lost in the hype and then their coverage totally misleads the public who usually does not pay attention to the sport of boxing. or any other sport for that matter. Reporters, sports or otherwise, have a duty to help educate their viewers, readers, listeners and not to play their dishonorable “hype”: chip when one event goes bad.

Check it out.

September 24th:

Replay tonight on HBO at 9:30 EDT.

January 16, 2012

Mayweather vs Pacquiao rumors: rumor had been this fight would happen in May 2012 or Novembember 2012.

This article from Bad Left Hook(one of my new favorite boxing websites) explains that now the rumor is that Bob Arum says Pacman will fight in June. Since some info is out about a Mayweather fight in May, Bad Left Hook suggests that the May fight rumor for these two fighters is just a No-Go and November is a bd date for a number of reasons.

So, they suggest we just believe that Mayweather will fight Saul Alvarez on May 5th in Las Vegas at the MGM Grand, and Manny will defend his belt aginst someone in June.

Then the whole Mayweather prison sentence in June.

So, maybe still no bout between these two top boxers in 2012. Another year of waiting.

Still, it is boxing in its straight up format that I love. It truly is an art, although I have to admit I enjoy a good old-fashioned slugfest too, even when the boxers lack skills other than a strong chin and a strong punch.

Although Floyd Mayweather Jr and Victor Ortiz are not heavyweight boxers by definition, they are both skilled professionals with heavy punching power.

Mayweather is a boxing master, with an unbeaten record of 41-0, while Ortiz is the fighter who holds the WBC Welterweight belt and has a 29-2-2 record. Ortiz is a southpaw and Mayweather beings his excellent defensive skills with him which always befuddled Ortiz.

For those who may not have watched the HBO series 24/7: Mayweather vs Ortiz, you missed Mayweather (“Money”) and his relationship with 50 Cent. Fun stuff. 50 Cent passing out family relationship wisdom and words of advice to Floyd Mayweather. Can it help with Mayweather’s training?

Today Larry Merchant, the HBO fight announcer/colog guy said Mayweather would be the favoriate against Pacquaio. Course the 80 year old Merchant was the one that said “If I was 50 years younger I would kick (Mayweather’s) ass”. Right Larry, right.

Ortiz even claims that all the boxers Mayweather has fought were “on their way out”. That is truly calling into question Mayweather’s manhood and questioning his legacy. Not something I would want to do as I walk into the ring with this boxing machine. Be careful, because not only is Mayweather undefeated…he will knock you out. As he has done in 25 of his 41 fights. And Mayweather has claimed “this fight will NOT go the distance.”

Mayweather is fond of saying “If you think you are the best, take the test”. Ortiz has said he is going to “teach” Mayweather how to fight. Might be difficult given Mayweather’s unbeaten record.

This is actually a tough one. I am a Mayweather fan. He can box, he can still move at 34 and damn can he hit hard.

Ortiz has a punchers chance which means he needs some luck to win this fight.

However, Ortiz is young and damn can he hit hard.

Get the idea? These are both boxers in every sense. But when one boxer gets hit hard by their opponent, boxing skills often get forgotten because all you want to do is hit back. And you want to hit back HARD!

So what starts out as a boxing match where you expect to see all the traditional skills on display quickly becomes a smash-up hit em hard nose-to-nose brutal war.

In a boxing match I pick Mayweather. In a war…against any other opponent I would pick Mayweather.

Against Ortiz? Well, oddsmakers say Mayweather. But…..

I don’t the fuck know. It will come down to a strong chin and conditioning. While Ortiz is a top welterweight and now holds the WBC belt in this class, he is actually a light-heavyweight and had to drop weight to come down to the welterweight level. That can take a lot from a fighter. Still he is a strong young man, and he youth counts for a lot here.

With Mayweather, it is the pride. Both fighters talk trash and it got a little rough, but that’s mostly just the show. In this match however, Mayweather really feels the Ortiz camp has disrespected him. Ortiz’s vow to ‘teach’ Mayweather something. And then Ortiz’s manager told a newspaper that Mayweather has “psychological problems”. The reason? Because Mayweather has a big house and a collection of 16 cars. So you can understand Mayweather will not be happy when he enters the ring.

Someone is going to get knocked out on Saturday night.

Mayweather is a 5-1 favorite in the Vegas sports books at fight time.

Watch it on HBO PPV for $69.95 or watch the undercards via live stream on badlefthook.com and some other providers (at least one requires you to install their own software. Strange.) until the main event, although one says they will show the main bout for free.

Or go watch the fight in a bar/sports bar/friend’s house that will be showing the fight for free or cheap cheap.

But they expect a boring fight and say don’t waste your time or your money. I agree the price is way too steep, but I don’t think it will be boring. Then again, few boxing matches have bored me especially with two of the sports top fighters. Hard to trust online pools, but this one says 97% would not spend the money.

My pick is…..Floyd Mayweather Jr. Pride over youth. Hang onto your hat boys and girls, this will be a fight.
Ortiz is dead in the water b4 the first bell is rung. Unless he gets lucky with a heavy punch.

Who do you think will win? And why?? Put your comments here and put up your dukes!!!

Apparently a bizzare Round 4 (I have not seen it yet) as Ortiz purposely headbutted Mayweather. The ref broke the fighters up, subtracted a point from Ortiz and as they came back together, Ortiz once again leaned his head into Mayweather. Ortiz says he was trying to apologize for the head butting Mayweatherintentionally. Mayweather unleashes a left/right combination, knocking Ortiz out. The ref it seems (according to the article) did not even see the KO (??), but the picture below seems to tell a different story.

It was a strange, but legal knockout by Mayweather and a very strange end to a bout in which Mayweather was dominating the action as early as it was in a fight that was scheduled for 12 rounds.

Mayweather improves his record to 42-0 with 26 KOs and gains the WBC Welterweight title.

Mayweather earned some $25 million for the fight and declined an interview with HBO’s Larry Merchant. “Mayweather suggested Merchant just talk to Ortiz “since you’ve never given me a fair shake.” He then used an expletive and questioned Merchant’s knowledge of the sport, to which Merchant replied, “If I was 50 years younger, I’d kick your [rear].”

Want to see more of what I have to say about this fight??? Click here.

Updated September 18th:

On a possible rematch with Mayweather: “I would love the rematch, because you know, I fouled Floyd, and I apologized in the ring, and apologized after the fight as well. Just heat of the moment. It’s one of those things where the ref was in the middle, and they called the break as well, and he caught me after the ref caught me (?). And I guess to a sense, it’s a payback but I agree to disagree, I’d like the rematch, though, it’d be a nice one. … … I do want the rematch, and I’m sure Floyd will give it to me. Well, I hope, anyways.”

Victor Ortiz is a MAN. He stepped up after the fight, I give him that. I gots new respect for the man.

Update September 20th:

Today Larry Merchant, the HBO fight announcer/colog guy said Mayweather would be the favoriate against Pacquaio. Course the 80 year old Merchant was the one that said “If I was 50 years younger I would kick (Mayweather’s) ass”. Right Larry, right.